Judah's New Tricks

Just a few things I caught Judah doing today ... none of these photos were staged and in fact I was out of sight for all three "tricks" ... I'm glad I walked in when I did though for trick #3!!

This is how I found him...

Then Gabriel joined the fun ...

Then I waited to watch him do it again ... up...

... Up ...

... Up!

If you look close you can see the reflection of his face, sweet...

STINKER!!!!!

Blue Bin

Judah pushes this blue bin all around the house like it is his job!

On the Road Again

Well, just over four weeks after the boys and I landed in Colorado, I went for a run today. I have been putting off running for a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to unpacking, organizing, acclimating the higher altitude, caring for the boys solo more than I am accustomed to, and sheer exhaustion. 

But today was the day! I have been feeling the itch to run more and more as the days have passed here, and after I consumed my fair share of cake batter and icing from Andy's first-day-of-school-treat (paired with a pretty terrible afternoon with the boys where the thought of staying indoors with them until Andy got home was unbearable), I decided that I needed to just get out there and run. 

My plan was to load the boys into the stroller, run up to (Denver's) Central Park and let the boys play at a playground, then come home just before dinner. As luck would have it, Andy was not able to join his cross country team for practice after school so shortly after the boys and I left the house, Andy joined us for a run too! I guess it's kind of poetic that my last run in NYC was in Central Park with Andy and the boys, and so was my first run here in Colorado :)

I'm not going to lie, I was huffing and puffing. Besides not running for the past month or so, my body is in no shape to be running at 5,000+ feet! I know it will take a long while before I am back on pace running here in Colorado, but I hope today's run was just the beginning of many, many more runs that I will do as we raise our family in this amazing outdoors-mecca! 

First Day of School

Well, today was Andy's first day at his new school! He has been "back at work" for the past two weeks doing training, new teacher orientation and prep, but this morning the kids came back (refresher: he is teaching engineering to eighth graders). 

Understandably he was a little nervous this morning as the boys and I kissed him good bye, but I knew he would do great. He would never tell you this, but out of 3,000 applicants for his school system only 50 were offered positions and he was one of them. This school is NO.JOKE. A nerdery through and through, teachers and students, make up this science and technology school. Andy is thrilled to be teaching something that he is passionate about, and grateful that the faculty and staff value him and his abilities (something no school or admin ever did in his six years in the NYC Dept of Ed!!). We are so thankful for this opportunity that Andy has been given, and I am particularly thankful that he is finally at a job that he loves!

The boys and I made a special treat for Andy while he was at school. Judah helped me make the cupcakes (read: played with the cake mix box on the counter) and Gabriel helped me decorate them! 

Nine Months

Judah turned 9 months old last Thursday (!) and we had his 9 month check up yesterday with our new pediatrician here in CO. I'm happy to report that Judah is doing great, and that after much anxiety we're relieved to have found a great pediatrician. Is it weird to be attached to a pediatrician? Man, I was dreading finding a new doctor for the boys, we just loved their pediatrician back in NY. In any case, we really like both the new doctor and the philosophy of the office.

Back to Judah. Here are his stats:

Weight: 17 lbs. 3.5 oz (20%)

Length: 27 1/2" (20%)

Head Circ: 18 1/2" (88%)

While Judah has certainly climbed in his weight percentages over the past 6 months or so, he is still hovering in the lower third ... but you wouldn't know it if you saw him eat! Judah can really put away some food, even the doctor was a bit surprised at how much table food Judah consumes for a 9 month old (I didn't divulge exactly how long we have been feeding him table food, ha! He was like "yea now that Judah is 9 months old you can feed him eggs, yogurt, berries and citrus, meat, grains, etc, etc" ... or maybe we started that a month or so ago!). Here is a list of everything Judah now eats or has at least consumed once or twice:

Avocado (an entire half by himslef!)

Brown rice

Sweet potato chunks

Strawberries (eats 4-5 at a time)

Blueberries/blackberries

Cantaloupe/honey dew

Green and red bell peppers

Greek yogurt

Zucchini bread

Cheese ravioli with tomato sauce (mashed of course)

Eggs

Pancakes
Mango
Veggie straws
Nectarine
Plum

This all in addition to eating at least (1) stage 2 baby food at each main meal, but more often times than not he eats (2) at each meal, still nurses 4-5 times a day and takes formula supplement 4-5 times a day. He has been going through the containers of baby puffs at a rate of about 1 canister every 2-3 days! Such a piggy! I think he would eat even more if we let him, but I'm worried he'll regurgitate so we cut him off when he's eaten as much as Gabriel or even me. Man I guess he must be burning through all of those calories then to be only the 20th percentile. I'm thrilled not to have another picky eater on my hands, plus it makes meal time easier when he can pretty much have whatever is on our plates. 

Judah continually tries to get vertical, but is not quite able to do it. He regularly props himself up onto objects, but just can't steady himself enough to do anymore. He is pretty good at navigating one little stair we have from our office to a catwalk area, and crawls/scoots pretty quickly everywhere else ... we really have to keep an eye on him. The doctor filled out a sheet on his gross and fine motor capabilities, social and communication skills and a few other things and he scored well above average for his age (I think the average baby scores like a 35 and he scored a 50, or something along those lines). All that to say, he's plenty mobile and aware of what is going on!

Judah really is developing quite a little personality, he is such a little clown sometimes (as you can see in the pics below), but then when he knows what he wants he is all business and no smiles. He also has a little temper and will not hesitate to pound his legs and fists into the floor when he does not get what he wants when he wants it. It's funny now, but I'm sure will be much less amusing come the toddler/preschool age. But most the time he just laughs with Gabriel and goofs around ... they really can get quite loud when they are in the playroom together!

His vocabulary consists of Da-Da and Ma-Ma and his one baby sign is still "milk". I thought he may be trying to sign "more" as several times he put his index finger of one hand into his other palm a few times in a row, but we're still not sure about that one. Ah who cares, most the time he just wants more food so there is no guessing there.

He also has six teeth with another one breaking through now, he naps twice a day (around 9 and 1), and sleeps through the night from about 7:30pm-6:30am. Room sharing is still going really well with Gabriel, they certainly have woken each other up a few times, but I want them to get used to hearing the other and learn to sleep through it. All in all I have been very pleased with that transition!

So Happy Nine Months Judah, you are such a joy :)  

Sunset

Yea, so this is our view out of our dining room window ... pretty spectacular. Most nights we eat dinner either out on our porch or just inside and watch the sun set behind the Rockies. Love it. 

Rally

In case you thought of me as oh so pitiful based on my post earlier today, I did manage another outing this afternoon between (non) nap time and dinner ... we were gone all morning running errands and then over to a friend's house for some playtime and lunch ... boys fell asleep in the car on the way home, which means when I got home they woke up and did not go back down for a real nap.

Anyway, so we walked to the local school playground and played, Judah went down the slide for the first time, and Gabriel and Judah swung together. We took the scenic route home and enjoyed a simple dinner ... and an early bedtime, hehe. Things are improving, here's to a good night. I hope. 

Note: No children were injured in this photograph

Doing push ups

Don't know what this face is (??)

Hey baby...

Gabriel asked to take some pictures, so here is his handy work!

Home Alone

It's strange how we humans get used to something, no matter what the circumstance most of the time, and then when our situation changes it is then that we realize that which we were so accustomed to. I have had this realization many times already as I slowly make the East-West transition, as aforementioned in the blog post regarding my first day out solo with the boys! Everything that was my life in New York City seems so easy and familiar and safe, while things out here continue to feel foreign and awkward. Nothing brought this to light quite so succinctly as last night, my first night home alone with the boys. 

Andy is on a work retreat this week, so I am left to fend for myself and the boys in this strange place. I know, seems cruel right? We just got here and are trying to figure out all things Denver when I suddenly have to do it without help, eek. I've had the boys by myself before but not with all of these unknowns thrown into the mix. 

So back to last night (and my original thought process); I scarcely slept throughout the night, as every little creak and groan in the house elicited a visceral fear of pretty much anything that may be lurking outside the door. I checked the lock three times, left half the lights on all night and tossed and turned until 4:45 this morning when the boys got up. I never was fearful in New York, even though statistically I'm sure NY has a higher incident of break ins and what not. I always felt safe in my little apartment, even when Andy was gone. I don't know if it was the fact that I had a dozen neighbors literally attached to my walls, or the big heavy metal apartment door that surely no one could penetrate, or any number of other things, because I have only thought about it now in retrospect.

But here I feel so vulnerable and on edge. I imagine most people who simply visit NY feel a bit on edge until they are safe and sound back home, which is why I say it's strange what humans acclimate to. I never would have guessed that I would feel so completely at ease in New York City (even late at night walking home from a meeting for something) than I do here in "the burbs". Weird.

So Andy gets home late tomorrow afternoon, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

To the Mountains!

We have been itching to head to the mountains ever since we got here, but unpacking and organizing have impeded our progress ... until today. After Viva Streets, we decided to load the boys up right at nap time and drive up into the mountains to a local trail that is family friendly. As planned, both boys fell asleep on the way there, yesssssss! 

Admittedly I, more than Andy, have been missing NYC. Granted it has only been 3 weeks, so not a lot of time has passed for adjustment, but that does not really diminish the fact that transition is difficult. So this was a much needed outing for me to remember all of the things that first drew me to Colorado in the first place. Mountains and trail hiking galore! To go hiking in NY we would have to load up the car from street parking, drive across the GW Bridge to a trail, then pay a $12 toll to get back from the hike, then try to find another street parking spot before we could be home. Ridiculous. So today, we just got in the car and drove West for 45 minutes and parked right at the trail head. Easy.

Mount Falcon Park is where we went, it has many easy and family friendly hiking trails. There are also some good overlooks. Some friends of ours gave Gabriel his very own camelbak pack right before we left NYC so he was elated to get to go hiking with it, and we had Judah in the Kelty child carrier (so weird it seems like Gabriel was just riding around in it!). Judah would not keep his hat on, so I had to tie a bandanaa around his head, a la Andy :). 

Our first little hike was to Eagle Eye Shelter, where there are picnic tables and a shelter and sweeping views of the mountains. We spent the majority of our time here, Gabriel enjoying all of the rock climbing and the company of another little boy (Dakota) that we met there. His parents were so nice, by the way, we had just some trail snacks but they were grilling out and offered us hamburgers and hot dogs! Man people in Colorado are so kind. Judah even enjoyed a little bit of exploring in the shelter and (assisted) on the rocks with Gabriel. 

After the overlook, we headed to the tower trail where there was another overlook with views of downtown Denver. It was gorgeous and peaceful. Now this. This felt like home, even when our actual home still feels foreign, being in the mountains felt so familiar. We ended up doing about 2.2 miles in total. This was just enough where Andy and I felt like we had actually hiked a bit, but not too  long for Gabriel (yes, he hiked the entire 2.2 miles!).

After a long and very full day (remember we did Viva Streets this morning) we headed back down the trail to our car. It was dinner time by the time we started driving back East, so we thought we'd stop on the way home a grab a bite (get ready for a funny story). We pulled off the highway at a mall-like complex called Colorado Mills, thinking they of course would have food. Right off the highway there was a restaurant called Twin Peaks "great food, great drinks, great views". Perfect! We found the parking lot and immediately noticed it was full (full!) of huge trucks ... you know the kind you need a ladder to get into. I thought it a little strange, but chalked it up to "just being in Colorado". As we neared the front entrance it became clear that we were a little slow on the uptake for Twin Peaks! NOT a family friendly joint if you get what I mean, HAHAHA. We had a good laugh at that one, imagine if we had actually walked in with an infant and a toddler. Oh my. So we quickly found another suitable restaurant, had some good food and headed home.

The day was long but the rewards were high. I am really looking forward to many more days like this for our family. I may not *heart* Colorado like I *heart* NY yet, but I am on my way...

Judah: little Andy

Snack Time!

Snack Time!